(Bosom) Friend Fridays: Miranda Runcie

When I started this blog at the dawn of time (2007), I really didn’t think that anyone apart from my mom and the dozens of boys who loved and wanted to wed me were reading it.

I was wrong.

You want to know who was reading it? A complete and utter stranger named Miranda Runcie.

The way I discovered that a girl named Miranda Runcie was reading my blog is a very long story – too long for one post. But if you’re ever in the room with both of us at the same time, you should ask us. We’ll look at each other like an old married couple, kind of laugh and sigh, and then take turns telling the sequence of events. It includes Daniel getting shot, the nation of Ecuador, a man named Nacho, me skipping communion in irrational tears, and that old abandoned amusement park of the internet, MySpace.

People who know the story can vouch that these are legitimate details (and I am happy to report that Daniel is alive and well).

When I moved to Tennessee, Miranda was there to warmly welcome me. Our friendship developed quickly and naturally. Having beat me to Nashville only by a few months, she and I began to navigate our new city together, making friends along the way and becoming part of a community that I now cherish so much, my heart could explode. I discovered some of the best people of my life with Miranda by my side.

She is adventurous and well-traveled, fluent in Spanish, and very tall (I once heard her described as “vertically gifted”). She likes to go on walks as long as I do, which is great because then we can talk for a long time – and she is a great person to talk to. Miranda is really wise – a restful presence – and I trust her judgment and insight.

Not long ago, I learned that she recently discovered her 8th grade time capsule which included a VHS of her describing herself. Apparently, she looked straight into the camera and solemnly declared, “Some people might say that I’m an untamed spirit.” Sometimes, my own vision of that announcement plays on a loop in my head – 8th grade Miranda proclaiming herself to be an “untamed spirit.” And then I giggle, because I know that 8th grade Annie would have loved 8th grade Miranda, too.

Some friendships truly are meant to be. And the day that you hear the whole story of how we met, you will surely believe in this kind of divine happenstance. I mean, a man named Nacho played a part!